Beauty in the Break

Today’s episode of Beauty in the Break explores a personal and harrowing story from Cesar’s life, where he recently encountered a past version of himself. Through an intimate storytelling conversation, Cesar reflects on reconnecting with a friend still struggling with addiction, sparking a powerful discussion about survivor’s guilt, transformation, boundaries, compassion, and what it means to move forward without leaving empathy behind. This episode offers honest insight into recovery, self-awareness, emotional responsibility, and navigating relationships after profound personal change.

In this episode they explore:

• Survivor’s guilt after personal healing and growth
• When old friendships mirror past versions of ourselves
• Why healing can feel isolating instead of liberating
• Boundaries without abandoning compassion
• Seeing addiction through the lens of compassion and illness

For more stories like this and good companies you can support, sign up for Cesar’s weekly newsletter Insights That Matter. 

If this episode spoke to you, you will love How to Be a Rebel with Dr. Reid Wilson. You can also watch the episodes on YouTube.

If you enjoyed this episode, take a moment to follow Beauty in the Break on your favorite podcast app and leave a review—it really helps!

Reach out to the show—send an email or voice note to [email protected] and be sure to follow on Instagram and TikTok. 

Cesar Cardona:

• Receive his newsletter Insights That Matter
• Get guided meditation from Cesar on his website 
• Listen to music from Cesar + The Clew on Apple Music and Spotify

Foster Wilson:

• Buy her poetry book Afternoon Abundance
• Learn about her postpartum services
• Receive her newsletter Foster’s Village

Created & Hosted by: Cesar Cardona and Foster Wilson

Executive Producer: Glenn Milley

This episode is brought to you by Jamaal Pittman. You can donate to his scholarship at Wheelerscholarship.com, supporting college enrollment.

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode of Beauty and the Break, Foster and Cesar explore psychedelics (in particular psilocybin mushrooms) as tools for healing, consciousness, and perspective shifts, weaving together personal stories, neuroscience, ancient spiritual texts, and modern research. Through storytelling and reflection, they discuss ego death, non-duality, mindfulness, meditation, and the science of psychedelics, revealing how these experiences can expand compassion, soften fear, and help us break through our own barriers. This episode offers an honest, nuanced look at psychedelics, not as an escape, but as a doorway into presence, meaning, and embodied understanding.

In this episode they explore: 

• The first mushroom experience that changed everything
• Ego death and why it softens fear
• Psychedelics and the brain: what science actually shows
• Mushrooms vs meditation: the “leaf blower” metaphor
• Seeing the world like a child again
• ADHD, overwhelm, and embodied knowing

Also mentioned: 

• Cesar’s online meditation class at DEN Meditation
• Cesar’s Growth Mindfulness meditation practice
• Beauty in the Break episode What is Healthy Screen Time? (dopamine/serotonin)
• Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research
• Psychedelics vs. Placebo brain map image

You can also watch the episodes on YouTube.

If you enjoyed this episode, take a moment to follow Beauty in the Break on your favorite podcast app and leave a review—it really helps!

Reach out to the show—send an email or voice note to [email protected] and be sure to follow on Instagram and TikTok. 

Cesar Cardona:

• Receive his newsletter Insights That Matter
• Get guided meditation from Cesar on his website 
• Listen to music from Cesar + The Clew on Apple Music and Spotify

Foster Wilson:

• Buy her poetry book Afternoon Abundance
• Learn about her postpartum services
• Receive her newsletter Foster’s Village

Created & Hosted by: Cesar Cardona and Foster Wilson

Executive Producer: Glenn Milley

This episode is brought to you by Arlene Thornton & Associates

Send us Fan Mail

This short Season 2 preview of Beauty in the Break is a gentle reintroduction and a small but intentional shift. Foster and Cesar reflect on what the first year of the podcast made possible, what they’ve learned along the way, and how the show is evolving. This season moves beyond finding beauty in broken moments to also exploring the beauty of breaking barriers, both inside ourselves and out in the world.

Starting Feb 3rd, Beauty in the Break will be a weekly podcast, with new episodes every Tuesday. Expect deeper conversations, more guests, and stories that expand what feels possible, shared with more ease, honesty, and room to breathe. Lots more to come, beloved. Thank you for being here.

You can also watch the episodes on YouTube.

If you are enjoying this show, take a moment to follow Beauty in the Break on your favorite podcast app and leave a review—it really helps!

Reach out to the show—send an email or voice note to [email protected] and be sure to follow on Instagram and TikTok.

Cesar Cardona:

• Receive his newsletter Insights That Matter
• Get guided meditation from Cesar on his website 
• Listen to music from Cesar + The Clew on Apple Music and Spotify

Foster Wilson:

• Buy her poetry book Afternoon Abundance
• Learn about her postpartum services
• Receive her newsletter Foster’s Village

Created & Hosted by: Cesar Cardona and Foster Wilson

Executive Producer: Glenn Milley

This episode is brought to you by Jamaal Pittman. You can donate to his scholarship at wheelerscholarship.com, supporting college enrollment.

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode of Beauty in the Break, Foster and Cesar bring you 12 unforgettable therapy lessons that reshaped their lives. Drawing from years of individual therapy, couples therapy, Jungian analysis, and parts work, they share tangible wisdom that listeners can apply to their own healing and communication journeys. Whether you’re navigating family dynamics, learning to self-regulate, or trying to let go of old stories, this episode is full of relatable and transformative moments.

They also discuss powerful therapeutic tools like Internal Family Systems (IFS), the importance of repair in relationships, and how to show up truthfully without controlling the outcome. If you’re craving real talk about mental health, personal responsibility, emotional intelligence, and how to actually change, this episode is one to bookmark and revisit. 

In this episode they explore: 

• The parenting mindset shift that changes everything after a mistake
• What to do instead of chasing “balance” — and why it rarely works
• A surprising truth about how you judge others (and what it says about you)
• The communication formula that protects relationships from resentment
• The healing magic of writing — and the 5-day practice that builds confidence
• Why trying to “be right” might be making you miserable
• How to work with your inner child using IFS-style parts work

Cesar mentions his accident, which is detailed in Cesar’s Accident: The Scars of Rebirth.

If this episode spoke to you, you may enjoy How to Feel Seen in Love, where therapist JJ Brake leads our hosts in a live couples session. You can also watch the episodes on YouTube.

If you enjoyed this episode, take a moment to follow Beauty in the Break on your favorite podcast app and leave a review—it really helps!

Reach out to the show—send an email or voice note to [email protected] and be sure to follow on Instagram. 

Cesar Cardona:

• Attend his upcoming speaking engagements
• Listen to music from Cesar + The Clew on Apple Music and Spotify
• Receive his monthly newsletter Insights That Matter

Foster Wilson:

• Buy her poetry book Afternoon Abundance
• Learn about her postpartum services
• Receive her monthly newsletter Foster’s Village

Created & Hosted by: Cesar Cardona and Foster Wilson

Executive Producer: Glenn Milley

This episode is brought to you by Jamaal Pittman. You can donate to his scholarship at wheelerscholarship.com, supporting college enrollment.

Send us Fan Mail

Award-winning jazz vocalist Mel Collins joins Beauty in the Break for a powerful conversation about healing through music, reclaiming identity, and finding joy in your authentic voice. Mel opens up about her journey from musical theater to jazz after years of vocal nodules, depression, and identity loss. When the discovery of one Ella Fitzgerald CD changed everything, Mel rediscovered her joy—and her calling.

Mel talks about navigating two vocal surgeries, aging in entertainment, her identity as a Black American, and how jazz became the liberating art form she was always meant to sing. She shares wisdom for artists, singers, and anyone searching for their path: how to know what’s yours, how to honor your voice, and how grace and pride can carry you through breaking moments.

In this episode they explore: 

• The $1.99 CD that saved Mel’s voice and rewrote her future
• What two vocal surgeries taught her about healing, humility and reclaiming her voice
• Why Mel was expected to be someone else—before they even heard her sing
• The underestimated power of silent recovery and vocal rest
• Rejecting the label ‘African American’ in favor of something more rooted
• How artists can stop chasing youth and start owning their power 

Mel Collins:

• Follow her on Instagram
• Check out her music and hire her to sing! 

If this episode spoke to you, you will love Find Laughter in Life & Death with actress/producer Jennica Schwartzman. You can also watch the episodes on YouTube.

If you enjoyed this episode, take a moment to follow Beauty in the Break on your favorite podcast app and leave a review—it really helps!

Reach out to the show—send an email or voice note to [email protected] and be sure to follow on Instagram. 

Cesar Cardona:

• Attend his upcoming speaking engagements
• Listen to music from Cesar + The Clew on Apple Music and Spotify
• Receive his monthly newsletter Insights That Matter

Foster Wilson:

• Buy her poetry book Afternoon Abundance
• Learn about her postpartum services
• Receive her monthly newsletter Foster’s Village

Created & Hosted by: Cesar Cardona and Foster Wilson

Executive Producer: Glenn Milley

Special Guest: Mel Collins

This episode is brought to you by Arlene Thornton & Associates

Send us Fan Mail

Are you sober curious? What if sobriety wasn’t a loss, but a doorway to something richer, deeper, and more vibrant? In this episode of Beauty in the Break, Foster and Cesar explore the concept of joyful sobriety, a term that flips the narrative from shame and scarcity to celebration and self-connection. Whether you're newly sober or just beginning to explore what it means to be sober curious, they share how choosing to stop drinking (for vastly different reasons) opened up clarity, creativity, spiritual depth, and real emotional presence. 

From near-misses and cravings to sober parenting and creative breakthroughs, this conversation weaves together lived experience with gentle wisdom. This episode is an invitation into a world where sobriety isn’t about less, it’s about more. More vibrance, more presence, and more of your real self.

In this episode:

• Why joyful sobriety is a radical reframe of the narrative around addiction and alcohol
• Foster's reason for quitting drinking
• Cesar’s raw, honest account of waking up at the wheel
• The myth of being “less fun” without alcohol
• The process that helped Cesar heal from addiction
• Foster’s revelation about alcohol and creativity
• Cesar’s take on waking up clear without having to check for his kidneys
• The question we should be asking ourselves about the role of alcohol in our lives
• Special feature: A beautiful chorus of voices from their joyfully sober friends: Chan Kinchla, Kate Anthony, Megan Stewart, Glenn Milley, Eve Sturges, Johanna Brown, and others.

Mention Beauty in the Break at Burden of Proof in Pasadena, and get 20% off your purchase!

If this episode spoke to you, you will love The Eating Habits We Didn’t Choose where Foster unpacks her diagnosis of an eating disorder. You can also watch the episodes on YouTube.

If you enjoyed this episode, take a moment to follow Beauty in the Break on your favorite podcast app and leave a review—it really helps!

Reach out to the show—send an email or voice note to [email protected] and be sure to follow on Instagram. 

Cesar Cardona:

• Attend his upcoming speaking engagements
• Listen to music from Cesar + The Clew on Apple Music and Spotify
• Receive his monthly newsletter Insights That Matter

Foster Wilson:

• Buy her poetry book Afternoon Abundance
• Learn about her postpartum services
• Receive her monthly newsletter Foster’s Village

Created & Hosted by: Cesar Cardona and Foster Wilson

Executive Producer: Glenn Milley

Editor: Bessie Fong

Send us Fan Mail

What if rest isn’t something you earn, but something you need in order to live fully? In this episode of Beauty in the Break, Foster and Cesar explore the radical and often misunderstood practice of rest in a culture addicted to hustle, productivity, and burnout. Through personal stories, cultural critique, and embodied wisdom, they unpack why rest is not laziness, but a necessary act of self-trust, nervous system regulation, and an act of rebellion against systems that reward exhaustion. This conversation is for anyone feeling overwhelmed, burned out, or quietly longing for permission to slow down.

In this episode: 

• Why hustle culture keeps us exhausted and disconnected
• How burnout sneaks in through productivity
• Cesar’s honest and emotional confession
• Why nature never rushes and neither should we
• How rest reshapes creativity and clarity
• Breaking cycles our children inherit

Also mentioned:

• Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey (The Nap Ministry)
• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
• In the FLO by Alisa Vitti
• Foster’s dad in How to Be A Rebel with Dr. Reid Wilson

If this episode spoke to you, you will love Say More! Vol. 2: Hustle Culture Sucks where we explore more problems of hustle culture. You can also watch the episodes on YouTube.

If you enjoyed this episode, take a moment to follow Beauty in the Break on your favorite podcast app and leave a review—it really helps!

Reach out to the show—send an email or voice note to [email protected] and be sure to follow on Instagram. 

Cesar Cardona:

• Receive his monthly newsletter Insights That Matter
• Get guided meditation from Cesar on his website 
• Listen to music from Cesar + The Clew on Apple Music and Spotify

Foster Wilson:

• Buy her poetry book Afternoon Abundance
• Learn about her postpartum services
• Receive her monthly newsletter Foster’s Village

Created & Hosted by: Cesar Cardona and Foster Wilson

Executive Producer: Glenn Milley

Send us Fan Mail

Today on Beauty in the Break, Foster and Cesar sit down with Foster’s father, renowned clinical psychologist Dr. Reid Wilson, PhD, an internationally recognized expert on anxiety disorders, panic attacks, and OCD, to explore how he turned his urge to be a troublemaker into a force for good. From adolescent trauma and rebellion to pioneering practical self-help approaches for anxiety, Reid shares how urgency, compassion, and action shaped his unconventional path.

This episode is for anyone who feels called to challenge broken systems, take meaningful action, and create change from the inside out.

In this episode they explore: 

• What trauma, anxiety, and aggression have in common
• Why Reid chose disruption over academic approval
• The hidden cost of being an outlier in mental health
• Why self-help reaches people therapy can’t
• How to tap into your own confidence

To connect with Reid, visit www.anxieties.com. Also mentioned:

• Don’t Panic: Taking Control of Anxiety Attacks
• Quiet Your OCD Brain (releases: 6.1.26)
• OCD & the Six Moment Game 
• The Eating Habits We Didn’t Choose 
• How to Spot a Gatekeeper

See Reid in the 70s on Instagram!

Let's connect! [email protected]   

Cesar Cardona:

• Receive his monthly newsletter Insights That Matter
• Get guided meditation from Cesar on his website 
• Listen to music from Cesar + The Clew on Apple Music and Spotify

Foster Wilson:

• Buy her poetry book Afternoon Abundance
• Learn about her postpartum services
• Receive her monthly newsletter Foster’s Village

Created & Hosted by: Cesar Cardona and Foster Wilson

Executive Producer: Glenn Milley

Send us Fan Mail

In Part 2 of this immersive community conversation, Foster and Cesar invite their guests to explore a new question. From health scares and skyrocketing blood pressure to identity shifts, career crossroad moments, burnout, and creative reinvention, the group dives into candid reflections about mental health, emotional resilience, and spiritual realignment. The result is a powerful meditation on change, surrender, and rediscovering one’s purpose.

Connect with the guests:

Ari Hader

• spiritual explorer, mom and actor (Dexter, Grey’s Anatomy)
• Ari on IMDb
• co-host of Spiritual Practices of the Disgruntled Artist 
• host of Magick and Manifestation for Actors 
• IG: @arihaderisyourfriend

Duane Benjamin 

• composer, musician, and instructor at UCLA School of Music
• Youtube: @duanebenjamin
• IG: @dben_jamin919

Jamaal Pittman

• Robinson Prize award-winning copy editor, manager and screenwriter
• author of The Copy Editor's (Life)Style Guide
• co-founder of the Annie and Sallie Ann Wheeler Memorial Scholarship
• IG: @jamaaldpittman

Katie Hall

• actor, wedding planner, FUCK YES energy cultivator & queer mama of two ✨
• IG: @theplantbasedboo
• IG: @bestdayeverla_events

If you enjoyed this episode, take a moment to follow Beauty in the Break on your favorite podcast app and leave a review—it really helps!

Reach out to the show—send an email or voice note to [email protected] and be sure to follow on Instagram. 

Cesar Cardona:

• Receive his monthly newsletter Insights That Matter
• Get guided meditation from Cesar on his website 
• Listen to music from Cesar + The Clew on Apple Music and Spotify

Foster Wilson:

• Buy her poetry book Afternoon Abundance
• Learn about her postpartum services
• Receive her monthly newsletter Foster’s Village

Created & Hosted by: Cesar Cardona and Foster Wilson

Executive Producer: Glenn Milley

This episode is brought to you by Arlene Thornton & Associates

Send us Fan Mail

In Part 1 of Soup & Stories, Foster and Cesar gather a circle of creatives and close friends for an intimate, community-style storytelling session. What unfolds is a raw, emotional exploration of grief, family estrangement, marriage transitions, boundaries, forgiveness, and the complicated dynamics of long-term friendships. These stories weave together themes of emotional healing, self-compassion, and personal growth, anchoring the episode firmly in real-life transformation.

Connect with the guests:

Ari Hader

• spiritual explorer, mom and actor (Dexter, Grey’s Anatomy)
• Ari on IMDb
• co-host of Spiritual Practices of the Disgruntled Artist 
• host of Magick and Manifestation for Actors 
• IG: @arihaderisyourfriend

Duane Benjamin 

• composer, musician, and instructor at UCLA School of Music
• Youtube: @duanebenjamin
• IG: @dben_jamin919

Jamaal Pittman

• Robinson Prize award-winning copy editor, manager and screenwriter
• author of The Copy Editor's (Life)Style Guide
• co-founder of the Annie and Sallie Ann Wheeler Memorial Scholarship
• IG: @jamaaldpittman

Katie Hall

• actor, wedding planner, FUCK YES energy cultivator & queer mama of two ✨
• IG: @theplantbasedboo
• IG: @bestdayeverla_events

If you enjoyed this episode, take a moment to follow Beauty in the Break on your favorite podcast app and leave a review—it really helps!

Reach out to the show—send an email or voice note to [email protected] and be sure to follow on Instagram. 

Cesar Cardona:

• Receive his monthly newsletter Insights That Matter
• Get guided meditation from Cesar on his website 
• Listen to music from Cesar + The Clew on Apple Music and Spotify

Foster Wilson:

• Buy her poetry book Afternoon Abundance
• Learn about her postpartum services
• Receive her monthly newsletter Foster’s Village

Created & Hosted by: Cesar Cardona and Foster Wilson

Executive Producer: Glenn Milley

This episode is brought to you by Arlene Thornton & Associates

Send us Fan Mail